[ad_1]
There are great similarities between how addiction to gambling and addiction to speculation develops, studies from other countries show. One risk factor is early earnings. The fact that there are unknown variables is also important, as the human brain has a hard time dealing with random results. We like to read causal relationships where they don’t exist, says Anders Nilsson, who is part of a research group studying gambling addiction. Possibly that trend is even clearer in stock trading.
– You probably think you have more control than you actually have and that you should increase your control by reading, he says.
Research shows that those who gamble on the stock market have a higher education and a more stable family situation compared to traditional gambling addiction. It may have a damping effect, says the researcher. Society’s view of the stock market as requiring brainpower can also make it harder to see dependency, he believes.
Anders Nilsson, a researcher in psychology at the Karolinska Institutet.
Photo: Sebastian Lindberg
In your own research, you have noticed that society’s view of activity affects the way addicts perceive what they are doing. While online casino players often find their behavior problematic, poker players can claim that they are really good, but only temporarily lost control.
– I imagine that a stock market shark with a dependency tendency may have a similar reasoning, that you are actually clever, have a lot of insight and only took unnecessary risk this time, says Anders Nilsson.
This can make it more difficult to address the problem. According to Henrik Nygren, advisor to the Gambling Addicts Risk Association, those who are addicted to something must first admit to themselves that the problem exists.
– This begins and ends with your own motivation; if it doesn’t exist, it’s very difficult to do something about it, says Henrik Nygren.
Claims that it has always existed a small proportion of gambling addicts who have just been addicted to gambling on the stock market. Although the proportion is small, a small percentage of addicts has recently increased.
– Yes, it is not like an avalanche, but it has increased, he says.
Nygren also sees similarities in how online brokerage companies are similar to online casino companies in terms of design and marketing.
– We have heard from people who depend on the stock market – that the industry has looked at the gaming industry. They look at how online casino companies design their platforms, for example, he says.
– It should be the shortest possible step from logging in and, in this case, buying shares. It should be as user-friendly as possible, he adds.
Anders Nilsson agrees that accessibility can cause problems for some. When casinos became available online 24 hours, researchers were concerned that more people would become addicted to gambling, but the increase was marginal. However, it becomes more difficult for those who already have problems when the natural stopping mechanisms are removed. Those who are addicted to gambling waste significantly more sums now than 10 years ago, says Anders Nilsson.
– Those who have problems could have been more protected if there had been more limits, he says.
However, there are crucial differences between gambling and speculation. While the stock market may continue to rise for several years, the gaming market is a zero-sum game in which it is the gaming companies that make a lot of money.
– The whole basis of the game is that you lose money, says Anders Nilsson.
It’s certainly not the sums that determine whether you have a problem or not, but many seek treatment only when it affects the economy. With higher financial margins, speculation addicts may go more unnoticed, the researcher admits.
– It is not impossible that there are dark numbers, and you may not see it as an addiction to the same extent.
Read more: Gustaf became addicted to speculation – “it’s like drugs”
